SEC distributes record $78.1 million

DESTIN, Fla. -- Still reaping the benefits from lucrative TV contracts and bowl games, the Southeastern Conference will distribute a record $78.1 million to its 12 schools this fiscal year.

Commissioner Roy Kramer made the announcement Friday at the end of the annual SEC meetings. The $78.1 million was a 6 percent increase over last year's total.

Also Friday, Kramer announced a four-year, $42.5 million extension with the Citrus Bowl, which is usually where the second or third best SEC team plays on New Year's Day.

The teams and their conferences split $8 million last season. Under the new deal, the payout will go from $10.25 million in the 2002 season to $11 million in 2005.

In other action, school presidents awarded the 2003 women's basketball tournament to Little Rock, Ark.

They took no action on the 2006-08 men's tournaments. Atlanta was expected to be a shoo-in for 2007-08 and Tampa was the front-runner for the 2006 event, with Memphis, Tenn. and Nashville, Tenn. also in the running.

SEC spokesman Charles Bloom said he expected those sites to be announced later this summer.

The decision to wait before announcing the sites ''could have been anything from wanting to get more information from the folks who bid, to wanting to go back to their institutions and poll,'' Bloom said.

The SEC also gave final approval to its decision not to schedule regular-season football games on Friday night. An NCAA regulation banning those games was lifted in April. The SEC athletic directors had hoped to write legislation to restore the ban, but decided not to after lawyers advised them any ban was unlikely to stand up in court.

The revenue-sharing plan includes money generated by football and basketball television deals, bowl games, the SEC football title game and men's basketball tournament and NCAA championships.

Not included in the total was the $10.8 million in non-sharable income earned by eight schools who made bowl games last season.

Bloom said the SEC is on track to extend deals with several bowls. The Outback, Peach, Independence and Music City Bowl agreements end after the 2001 season, although all are expected to renew with the SEC.

Things don't look so good with the Cotton Bowl. The SEC is unwilling to change the start time of the Citrus Bowl to help TV ratings for the Cotton Bowl, and it appears unlikely the parties will renew their agreement.

Bloom, however, denied reports that the negotiations had broken down completely.

''That's premature,'' he said. ''The conference is still talking to the Cotton Bowl.''

In other business, SEC presidents:

--Increased the size of gymnastics travel teams from 15 to 18 gymnasts.

--Earmarked $54,000 in scholarship money to be split among the winners of the community service award at each school.

--Added a conference match to regular-season volleyball schedules, giving each team 16 matches.

--Welcomed two new members to their executive committee: Senior women's sports administrator Samye Johnson of Mississippi State and Chancellor John White of Arkansas will join Chancellor Robert Khayat of Mississippi and President John Palms of South Carolina on the four-person committee.

This article published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Saturday, June 2, 2001.